9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, ^wlike men sentenced to death, because we ^xhave become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. 10 ^yWe are fools for Christ’s sake, but ^zyou are wise in Christ. ^aWe are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11 To the present hour ^bwe hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and ^cbuffeted and ^dhomeless, 12 and we ^elabor, working with our own hands. ^fWhen reviled, we bless; ^gwhen persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. ^hWe have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, ⁱthe refuse of all things.

1 And I, when I came to you, brothers,^{1 x}did not come proclaiming to you ^ythe testimony² of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except ^zJesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And ^aI was with you ^bin weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of ^cthe Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men³ but ^din the power of God.

6 Yet among ^ethe mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not ^fa wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, ^gwho are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, ^hwhich God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of ⁱthe rulers of this age understood this, for ^jif they had, they would not have crucified ^kthe Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,

10 these things ^oGod has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even ^pthe depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts ^qexcept the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now ^rwe have received not ^sthe spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this ^tin words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, ^uinterpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.⁴

14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are ^vfolly to him, and ^whe is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The ^xspiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 ^y“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But ^zwe have the mind of Christ.